WASHINGTON -- Today's announcement by the Icelandic Fisheries Ministry that it would resume commercial whale hunts is deeply disturbing to Humane Society International and undoubtedly the conservation minded countries of the International Whaling Commission. The ministry also announced it will start hunting highly endangered fin whales in addition to minke whales, two long-lived species that are slow to reproduce.
These actions are not only morally reprehensible but against international treaty law and they undermine the IWC's core obligation of ensuring the continued survival of whale species. HSI calls on IWC member governments to condemn Iceland's actions and to take high level diplomatic steps that would stop Iceland from killing whales.
Iceland's history with the IWC is contentious and capricious, agreeing to the global ban on commercial whaling one year and quitting in frustration another after being criticized by conservation countries for hunting under the guise of "scientific whaling." Its precedent-setting flip-flopping wreaks havoc on international law and agreements and jeopardizes the fate of the world's great whales.
Iceland is out of step with modern views and sensibilities toward whales and the global obligation to protect them.
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As the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States, the largest animal protection organization in the country, Humane Society International addresses issues such as inhumane practices and conditions affecting companion and farm animals, illegal trade in wildlife, threats to endangered species, slaughter of marine mammals, and the use of animals in research and testing. On the web at www.hsihsus.org.
